Boku wa tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT – 03

haganai next (1)

Maria can actually be quite cute when she is not screaming at Kobato.

 I didn’t have much to say about last week’s episode of Haganai, and I guess I don’t have much to say this week either. I managed to fit every thought I had about the show into one tidy little paragraph. That being said though, it was an entertaining episode, so let’s get to Fosh and I’s thoughts on that~.

Ku Ku Ku. It is finally time for your weekly dose of  hilarious club adventures! Last week was all about that hilarious homo game thing with Rika introducing everyone to the world of man love and possibly recruiting Yozora as another BL fan girl? So what are we going to have this week? I think there will be a lot of Kobato loving in this episode…

 

Character relationships

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Kobato-“You want my brother? Then you have to challenge me to video games!”

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Kings game gone wrong or just right?! I think Yozora can answer that question.

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Meat rolling is a fine art.

Ahaha the neighbour’s club might have issues accepting their not-friends as friends, but it looks like Kobato and Maria have the same problems. Kobato acts like a kid the entire time Maria is there and wants her gone, but she’s excited for the next time she comes over. That’s cute. I’d kind of like to see how that friendship works out later if/when Kobato goes to that school. …Especially since Maria is technically a teacher and I can see that fuelling some fights if the two continue to be frienemies. Or it would be really adorable if they truly became best friends. Ah, possible spin-off material. It’s also adorable how Kate was all worried about Maria the entire time she was over there. …Anyways, moving on to the other characters, this episode just confirmed that Kodaka definitely sees Maria as nothing but a child. He has no reaction to her throwing her clothes at him and unlike Nisemono, the teeth brushing was more of a chore than a sensual experience. It’s pretty clear that Kodaka is not a lolicon. On the other hand, the romantic development is coming along with the king’s game and such. It’s pretty obvious that Yozora hid the kiss order for herself at some point (most likely in case she glanced and saw Kodaka with 3) and Sena took the fact that she interfered pretty well. Sena looked stunned when Yozora stopped it, so I don’t think she knows about Yozora’s feelings for Kodaka, but at least she was mature enough to want the real thing instead of a cheap set up in a game. I guess I have to give a hand to Kodaka for resolving the matter peacefully too with the indirect kiss. He’s like the only constant source of maturity in this show amidst all of the chaos and while that often throws him into the background as nothing but the straight man, it does shine through sometimes. This was one of them.

Sleepovers with vampires and nuns

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Maria-“Behold my new battle armor!”                Kobato-“Ehhhhhh! THAT IS NOT FAIR ONII-CHAN.”

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Maria and Kobato will become best friends in no time! After they finish their 200th match

haganai next (7)

Now is your chance to strike Skylion while she is asleep…

Our prayers have been answered! Kobato finally appears this week after being away for the first two episodes, unless you count that cameo appearance in the second episode on Sena’s laptop? Just kidding! I thought it was kind of random that Maria dropped in while Kobato and Kodaka were trying to enjoy some dinner? Oh right she runs a gay something err I meant that she decided to run away from home; however her older sister Kate knew where she was the entire time because she kept calling Kodaka over and over again to check up on her? Now Kate might not admit to being a sis-con, but for some reason I kept thinking about Akane and Akarin from Yuru Yuri which tells me that older sisters can be just as crazy as older brother types in anime. While Maria and Kobato played video games together, I just could not stop grinning because it looked like the two of them were actually getting along, sadly I know they will never admit to being “friendly” with each other but who knows maybe we will see something fun bloom between them this season? Anything is possible…

Fun with everyone!

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Be very careful Kate will run your bank account dry!

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I think Maria might have god like powers…

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Jealous Araragi-kun? You should be!

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DAT loli ASS IS SO VIVID…

End thoughts

Well considering that this focused a lot on Maria, I enjoyed this episode more than I thought I would. When put in the context of a sleepover (oh, sorry. I mean ‘running away from home’), it really reminds me that Maria is still just a child. She acts without any common sense whatsoever, but from the way Kodaka acts around her, it’s like she’s 6 or something. Somewhere deep down, that makes me more accepting of her behaviour (even though I’m pretty sure she’s older than that). …Plus Kobato was right up there with her in childishness this episode. It’s not even a huge part of the plot, but I really want to see the two of them in 5 years or so after they grow up a bit, just to see what their relationship is like. As for big parts of the plot, romance is definitely developing as well. However, Haganai is setting it in there strategically between all of the madness, so it never feels too different from the rest of the show. It does come kind of abruptly, but the transition of comedy to awkward romantic situations isn’t as jarring as you’d expect. Maybe that’s because this season doesn’t seem as extreme as the last one was, so romance actually seems possible, even when we have imoutos running around in extremely skimpy outfits. I guess this is what comes of having the actual author as part of the scripting team. I’m wondering about the result of the phone call, but that will more than likely come in the next episode.

Oh man this episode gave me lots of feels especially the fun scenes filled with Kobato and Maria? Those were some excellent moments even though they spent most of their time yelling at each other. I can tell that Kobato really enjoys hanging out with Maria, but is it possible for them to get along? I certainly hope so. Besides that section of the episode I totally agree with Kara on her thoughts about Kodaka being mature! He takes care of Kobato every day and he even helped Maria out? I have to hand it to him for using an indirect to solve the problem of having to kiss Sena? Any normal main guy in anime would take full advantage of having all these girls falling for him, but most main characters are dumber than a box of rocks. As for the possible romances in the future of Haganai I can only see Yozora and Kodaka getting together because of the whole childhood friend disease, but at the same time I wouldn’t mind seeing Sena and Kodaka! So what about that sudden phone call at the end from Kodaka’s father? I wonder what his dad promised Pegasus? Hopefully we find those answers next week oh and Rika had a new hairstyle!

Preview

haganai next (12)

Something tells me Rika is having more fun than anyone.

Amusement parks and bath house fun.

About

We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
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100 Responses to “Boku wa tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT – 03”

  1. skylion says:

    Now is your chance to strike Skylion while she is asleep…

    What?! Never.Concent and ten more years…

    • BlackBriar says:

      Hmm… I thought for sure there wasn’t going to be any hesitation. I, however, would go after Kate. Well endowed nuns seem to have a dirty mind in my opinion. Sister Orsola from Index II as an reference.

      • skylion says:

        Consent….it really is important on all levels.
        As for nuns, I wish they would do more with Agnese Sanctis

        http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Agnese_Sanctis

        ….and you can tell a man by his taste in nuns, apparently. Who gave me this shovel?

        • Karakuri says:

          ….and you can tell a man by his taste in nuns, apparently.

          I don’t know when or how, but somewhere, someday, I will add this into a conversation somewhere and it will be glorious.

          • BlackBriar says:

            This and the tale of Spammy. It looks like you’re building up a collection.

          • Highway says:

            I’m starting to wonder if skylion got his taste for loli nuns from Sister Bertrille

            Me, I’m not too into nuns or lolis. In fact I’m not into either at all. I wonder what that says about me?

            • skylion says:

              Interesting line of thought you have there. I cannot say I had/have a thing for nuns. Lolis are always awesome, however. Such a great litmus test for fandom.

              Flying Nun? Well, I did have a thing for Sally Field back in the Seventies. And I did watch The Flying Nun and Gidget back to back on syndicated stations. I don’t think she was a loli. In Smokey and the Bandit, they called her Frog.

              You know, in an oddball alternate reality, I guess she could probably provide the English dub for just about any Rie Kugimiya character…I can see that…if I squint. So it that loli nun?

              No?

            • BlackBriar says:

              It’s means that we’ve yet to know your fetish. And believe me when I say we’ll find it. We know Skylion’s, Fosh, Karakuri, Overcooled and yours truly.

            • Foshizzel says:

              @Highway: Rie Kugimiya will always and forever be a loli! She plays some of the best ones out there, but her role in Index starts out as being evil and messed up!

              @Skylion: lolis are awesome! I like when they fight or are comical <3

              @BB: Ooooh really? Now we must discover BBs! I think vampires are one thing right? Ku ku ku...

            • Highway says:

              The whole point of her being the Flying Nun was that she was small enough to fly with their cornette. So if anyone’s really going to be a loli nun, it’s Sister Bertrille.

            • skylion says:

              …a loli nun is fine, too…

          • skylion says:

            I’ll take money or credit. Or people not using me in some sort of scheme.

  2. Highway says:

    Maria and Kobato’s friendship really echos that of Kirino and Kuroneko, although in Haganai we’ve got an older brother who’s not interested in either one of them (unlike Kyousuke who’s attracted to both of them :/ ). As for ages, I think Maria is 10, and Kobato is more like 13, she’s actually a literal chuunibyou. Thinking about that age difference, it’s actually kind of surprising that they do so much together, but there’s a reason they both hang out with the Rinjin-bu, and it’s not just Kodaka. And it’s not to read out Rika’s super pervy lines. I’m glad they didn’t play that up any more than they did. I tend to think they already oversexualize Maria (10-year old girls are WAAAY over the line), and given what they did with her in the first half of the show with the off-the shoulder t-shirt, that could have gotten a LOT more uncomfortable. But even with the T-shirt, they just used that to make Kobato jealous of her own underdevelopment.

    And Kodaka’s stepping up as a harem lead. We definitely don’t get many harem leads that aren’t at least closet pervs or oddly broken people. His only problem is that he makes a terrible first impression, with his sandy-blond hair and his *horrible* fashion sense. Dude, you’re not clam digging! Roll the pants down!

    Yozora’s starting to make her move. Setting things up for a kiss, that was a great look when Sena picked her rigged order. I wonder if Sena now realizes how much of a love rival Yozora is for Kodaka, and because of that stepped up the pressure, maybe telling Pegasus that she wants to marry him, starting the chain that got us to that phone call at the end.

    • Karakuri says:

      I can see them being compared to Oreimo’s Kuroneko and Kirino (and not just because Hanazawa plays a gothloli who wears red contacts and pretends she’s part of some angsty demon magic battle anime in both of them). Though I don’t think Kyousuke being attracted to Kuroneko is quite as… wrong as if the same thing occurred here in Haganai with Kodaka and Maria since the age gap in Oreimo isn’t quite as large. Yeah, they did Maria’s part in this rather skillfully. She was in the craziness, but as a kid instead of a sex object.

      Roll the pants down!

      But he feels the need to show his ankles, Highway! Don’t you understand?!

      As for Sena setting up the wedding… I don’t think she would ever really admit to wanting to marry Kodaka (or at least not yet), let alone tell her father to arrange a marriage since she didn’t push for the kiss in the game. If she didn’t want to force him then, why would she force him into marriage? I think this is just continuity from the lines Kodaka told Pegasus in the bath about Pegasus leaving looking after his his daughter to him.

      • Highway says:

        Yeah, I have no problem with Kyousuke x Kuroneko (my second favorite ship in that series after Tamura Manami). I was just pointing out that while Kyousuke has an interest there, Kodaka has none.

        If I was arguing, I might say that Sena kissing Kodaka is something she wants to happen, just not forced by the game and definitely in front of everyone else. But mentioning something to her father that he overreacts to (cause we’ve definitely seen her play her father like a fiddle a couple times) she might be able to seem more innocent.

        • Karakuri says:

          Kuroneko is my #1 ship, but I can’t see it happening after what went on in the novels…

          Ah, maybe. Pegasus does tend to overreact to a lot of things… If Sena did set this up, or even hinted towards it though, I think that Pegasus went along with it at least partially because of what Kodaka said episode 1.

      • Foshizzel says:

        @Kara: Rolled pants must be a character tag for images hahaha

        @Highway: I think Sena is attracted to Kodaka, but at the same time maybe she is super confused between friend and boyfriend? I know she has mentioned before that guys always follow her around school…same for Yozora? In the 2nd episode Rika was putting the thought of friends kissing in her head? I guess that carried over into this episode.

        • Highway says:

          I don’t think Sena’s confused at all about her intentions toward Kodaka. I think she’s just confused and unsure about how to deal with a guy who is friendly but not fawning, and how to deal with a guy she actually likes but isn’t contemptuous of. She’s spent her whole life being adored by guys but the guy she wants doesn’t do that.

          That brings up something else: What happened to all those guys that would follow Sena around worshipping her? I know we don’t see a lot of anyone but Kodaka and Kobato outside of club, but it seems Sena doesn’t have those guys following around anymore.

  3. Highway says:

    On Karakuri’s point about the integration of the romance part of the story in between the madcap happenings, I wonder if that’s maybe the biggest reason the antics have been brought down in humiliation level, because 1) it’s not really believable that there would be both romance and wacky (and more importantly malicious) hijinks, and 2) both Yozora and Sena are realizing that Kodaka doesn’t like them when they lash out at the other one. So they have to ride a line of holding the other one back without looking like they’re doing it on purpose.

    And right now, Yozora’s much better than Sena at that.

    (oh, and Spammy’s got another comment of mine).

    • BlackBriar says:

      Spammy is an insatiable beast. Are you sure you’ve been feeding him lately?

      • skylion says:

        I feed him two yesterday and one today. Perhaps he disagrees when you guys tease me so…

        • BlackBriar says:

          Perhaps he disagrees when you guys tease me so…

          Ha! It’s almost worth the price 🙂

          You feed him regularly but he hounds the other commenters. We need a muzzle and a cage.

          • skylion says:

            So glad to be useful…

            • BlackBriar says:

              And if those “humane” methods don’t work, we put him down.

            • Karakuri says:

              Ahaha we can’t put Spammy down! Besides your comments, you should see the crap he catches. He’s too useful.

            • Highway says:

              Yeah, he’s just a tad indiscriminate. But in terms of the good he does, I wouldn’t trade him.

    • Foshizzel says:

      I feel you on Yozora x Kodaka! I mean its obvious to us that she generally has a thing for him, but they have to keep it hush hush right now. Just imagine Sena and the other club members reactions if they blurted out “WERE DATING” I think it would cause some sad moments xD

      Sena unfortunately has a lot to learn besides what she discovers in her ero games lol…

  4. skylion says:

    This. Again. I am much happier to see this level of Haganai back and flying it’s true colours.

  5. PrimeHector says:

    I knew i wasn’t the only one to get nisemonogatari vibes from the toothbush scene.

    • Highway says:

      I saw them do it, and immediately recognized them playing it straight up, not for laughs, not for titillation, just “another chore for Kodaka”. Just like they did later with having Maria read off Rika’s raunchy ruling in the king game.

      • Karakuri says:

        They handled the Maria’s involvement in this rather tastefully.

        • skylion says:

          It sounded like she was ordering lunch…

        • Foshizzel says:

          I admit Maria was kind of adorable this week! Usually she gets the short end of the stick as the super freaking annoying character, but I was happy that Kodaka didn’t seem to mind the extra chores of watching over Maria and hell he keeps Kobato good care of her.

          Kodaka such a boss!

          • skylion says:

            If you didn’t admit it, you might have to make a choice of curry flavoured poop or poop flavoured curry.

            Kodaka is Boss. Now all he needs is a Wild Kana Minami…

    • Karakuri says:

      Ahahaha the world (or at least the people who watched Nisemono) will never look at dental hygiene the same way ever again.

    • BlackBriar says:

      That vibe was unmistakable and undeniable even if you tried to the best of your abilities. Only this version wasn’t as perverted and the one getting her teeth brushed was unconscious.

  6. PrimeHector says:

    Haganai slowly going down the Sena route…

    • Karakuri says:

      But since it popped up early in the season, I’m not confident if it will work out or not…. as much as I’d like it to. This situation feels like this is one of the occasions where the one who strikes first loses.

      • Foshizzel says:

        Yep! I feel the same way Kara! Did you see the couple stuff in Kokoro Connect? I get similar vibes with Yozora, Sena and Kodaka.

        • Highway says:

          Hmm, I don’t see that it’s too much the same, besides having two girls interested in one guy. And in KokoCo, it was obvious that the guy liked one more than the other. I don’t see Kodaka having a clear favorite right now.

    • Highway says:

      Maybe it’s me being a total Yozora shipper, but I just don’t see much progress of Kodaka toward Sena since the start of this season. I mean, you could say that there’s progress because now both of their dads think they’re going to get married, but I don’t think that’ll hold up more than 3 minutes into the next episode. And if it was something that Sena did to get Pegasus to con her dad to try to rope Kodaka into it, that might end up being a broadside torpedo into the HMS Kashiwazaki Sena.

      Then I go to the Wikipedia page and get partially spoiled… grr. Certainly not definitive, tho, since the LN series isn’t even finished (people figure there are two more to go, to get to 10).

      And I kind of agree with Karakuri: It’s awful early for a power play like that to work.

      • Foshizzel says:

        Sena x Kodaka is definately a ship created by their fathers! I mean did you remember the first episode? The maid gave Kodaka a condom? Clearly Sena’s father is like HURRY UP AND DO IT! AND THEN MARRY MY DAUGHTER! At least that is the vibe I continue to get from her side.

        For all we know Kodaka’s dad promised that his son would marry Sena if they were allowed to attend the school? If so we might be heading into drama if Kodaka is forced to move away if he turns down the offer to marry or get with Sena.

      • Karakuri says:

        ARGH Highway, you convinced me into reading the spoilers too. I’d say it isn’t definite as well. I don’t even know about the events going on in between all of this, but it seems waaay too easy for this to work out. OTL
        Show ▼

  7. Karry says:

    I really want to see the two of them in 5 years or so after they grow up a bit

    After they gain a bit of tits, you mean ?

  8. BlackBriar says:

    The vampire and the nun are slowly becoming friends? NO! Just kidding. It’s good to have Kobato back and Maria is tolerable whenever she’s not going on her berserk ranting. They both fight over Kodaka like real sisters trying to get the older brother’s affection. It’s kind of cute.

    A busty siscon nun? That works for me! I need more Kate in my Haganai. She makes her sister look hot.

    Since Persona 4, I’ve developed the sense to steer clear of any place that hints of the King’s Game being played. That game is dangerous and there’s no telling what will be asked of you, especially with someone like Rika being one of the players. Sena was too confident. There was a good chance she could have been caught by one of her own orders. Though I’m surprised she didn’t go into lolicon mode with Kobato in that “swimsuit” Rika picked out for her.

    As for the would-be kiss. I’m not seeing Kodaka x Sena happening as much as Kodaka x Yozora. It’s got to be the biased childhood friend factor at work. What Kodaka’s dad asked over the phone sounded like he was implying an arranged marriage.

    • skylion says:

      I think this King Game would have been better done with some Dynamite Drinko. And the young lady that comes with it. Ufufufu.

    • Foshizzel says:

      The interactions between Maria and Kobato was so damn cute for me because both of them are so Tsun towards each other, but for them to get closer we probably need another season or another episode arc with the two of them hanging out.

      Kate is an awesome older sister even though she might get creepy if she has hug pillows and collects Maria’s clothes for personal uses…

      Oh Kings games! Does any series out there skip the whole x person has to kiss the king? I can’r remember if that went down in P4 kings game episode? I am surprised Rika held back or did she? Guess that is where the light novel or manga would come in handy hahaha

      I wouldn’t mind either pairing even though Yozora has the whole past life with him as children over Sena, but I keep picturing Kodaka’s dad setting up his son with Sena like you said a possible arranged marriage? I could see that backfiring so hard and pushing some random drama with Kodaka/Kobato forced to move away if Kodaka turns down that offer.

  9. skylion says:

    Kobato’s Vividred Operation…

    Yes. This. Well, Pink is the colour you are looking for. Pink.

    What kind of person keeps a cosplay get up like that around?

    Answer: My kinda person!

  10. Jrow says:

    Love the King’s Game being played in anime! Even though you know it’s gonna be Kodaka showing his chest (Yozora & Sena find it quite manly) or other weird antics, it’s always a fun time. Maria’s eroge reading, I was ROFLing.

  11. PrimeHector says:

    Sena seems like she’s going to win because she is the highest ranked character in the popularity polls. Sena met Kodoka before when their fathers were young and in somewhat of a Love Hina-like way.

    • Foshizzel says:

      If that is true then Sena and Yozora should have equal rights to fall in love with Kodaka?! I hope we learn more about Sena’s past with Kodaka soon~

  12. PrimeHector says:

    My experience with the King’s Game (besides nisemonogatari) was Baka Test. Lesson-play with Shouko.

  13. belatkuro says:

    And so ends volume 4. Both parts were good, especially the second half. I like that slipup with Kodaka’s relationship with Yozora. And of course the tension with that final order of the game was great. Hard to say whose ship I’m in especially when both have their merits but let’s see.
    And now we add Konishi Katsuyuki to the awesome seiyuu cast in here. Too bad he’s only talking in the phone. But he(the father) did drop a big bomb there in the end.

    Next up is volume 5 with the amusement park segment. These chapters were a riot in the novels and seeing Rika in the roller coaster, it should be good. And there’s gonna be an important event next episode but it’s not much of a reveal as I know most people would have already guessed it. Let’s see the people’s reactions though.

    P.S. Damn, what a discussion you have in here. And mostly the same people talking. I can’t keep up T.T

    • Karakuri says:

      Holy! We’re only on volume 4?! …I figured it was closer to 6 or 7.

      Yeah, a bigger bomb than I thought it would be (no thanks to those spoilers I read).

      Oh, yay! Stuff to look forward to then! …As for the reveal, I wasn’t even aware that this thing even had spoilers. …Unless you’re talking about the really unconvincing trap actually being female or something. If that’s true, I would barely consider that a spoiler.

      • belatkuro says:

        Yeah, this is only the end of volume 4. The first season covered the first 3 volumes plus the first 2 chapters of vol4, while skipping out on some chapters like that part with Sena wearing a bald wig and Yozora impersonating Sena, which was in vol2.
        By the OP, we’ll probably get to vol7 or 8 which mean that they’re gonna burn out almost all the available materials. This is why I was shocked when this got a new season as this doesn’t have much material left to work with and it didn’t sell crazy like Infinite Stratos.
        Oh well.

        Yeah, that’s the spoiler I’m talking about. Like I said, it’s not much of a reveal as most would have probably guessed it already. It’s also pretty unconvincing and there were already hints dropped before. I’m still looking forward to the reactions though.
        Spoilers for this show are few but some take away the excitement so tread carefully. Or so I say but I guess you already know some things already. The internet is not a safe place.

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